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This study seeks to identify the critical factors that affect the success and performance of new ventures. This topic seems to have inclining interest due to the fact that entrepreneurship lies on the focus of global attention. Additionally, it is a very fluid topic and evolves continuously; as such, many researchers are motivated to investigate it from different perspectives. An additional reason of high interest is that recently in Greece, the development of new ventures has just started taking place. In particular, the study examines the personality traits of the entrepreneur, the characteristics of the products, the strategies that are implemented by new ventures, the impact of internal and external environment, the special characteristics of each venture separately (based on the obtained sample), the incubation process and so forth. The study involves the examination of seven successful new ventures from different industry sectors, such as information systems, software and technology. The dissertation thesis was based on semi-structured interviews of seven founders of the new ventures, which were examined, through the use of a semi-structured questionnaire with questions relevant to the topic adapted from the literature review in the field. Having reviewed the literature and having drawn upon previous scientific articles, we attempt to examine our initial assumptions and provide relevant evidence through our findings. The findings reveal the prominent role of the entrepreneur for the success of a new venture. Specifically, entrepreneurial personality traits, like the capability to eliminate imminent risks, prior managerial experience, persistence, daring, flexibility and risk-taking, seem to have positive effect on new venture success. Furthermore, our empirical research demonstrates that the entrepreneurial team boosts the performance of the venture and it should consist of individuals with different scientific backgrounds. Also, we can infer that the creation of products’ prototype is concerned to be essential for a new venture. Besides, an upward trend of products based on incremental innovations is observed. Moreover, it is considered important for a new 2 venture to spend some time on market research, follow a detailed planning procedure, develop an analytical business plan and make estimations about new venture’ s costs at the early stages. It was also found that the use of outside professionals and advisors is quite beneficial for the performance of the new venture. Regarding the strategies which are pursued by new ventures, our findings ascertain Porter’s competitive strategies typology (1980). Among the strategies that our sample has adopted are low cost (cost leadership), differentiation and focus strategies. Our findings reveal that when a new venture has to choose the appropriate type of strategy, it should consider the specific circumstances it should cope with, its capabilities, its resources and specifically the industry conditions by which it is confronted. Taking into account the external/macro-environment, we can conclude that the latter has a great impact on new ventures’ success or failure. Finally, another important factor that seems to play a significant role to new ventures’ success is the incubation contribution and its benefits (rental space and equipment, consulting/coaching and networking). The above findings provide rich theoretical and managerial implications by advancing already existing knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship and new venture creation in particular. They further provide rich insight to managers of ventures and entrepreneurs, with regard to critical success factors during the initiation process and resource allocation decisions that are vital to the success of entrepreneurial initiatives.